Craven Street: Ben Franklin in London Audiobook

Originally broadcast nationwide in 1993, this meticulously researched five-part historical drama is being published by Blackstone to commemorate Benjamin Franklin’s 300th birthday

This production reveals the multifaceted, complex Franklin’s little-known adventures in London before the Revolution. For fifteen years, he lived on Craven Street off the Thames, where he established a surrogate family, began his autobiography, and became America’s most famous citizen.

As tensions heated up between the Mother Country and her colonies, Franklin became embroiled in intrigue, espionage, and even a duel. The British government believed him “the head of all the rebels” and set out to have him hanged. He escaped only hours before arresting magistrates came banging on his Craven Street door. He was at sea sailing for home when “the shot heard ’round the world” rang out at Lexington.

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“[In] Yuri Rasovsky’s clever radio play…George Grizzard is believable as Franklin, revealing sides of the man we rarely find in history books. The late Elizabeth Montgomery has a distinctive—and bewitching—role as narrator and Franklin’s conscience. Craven Street is a moving, informative, and beautifully produced radio play festooned with music and sounds of the time, and starring a full cast that includes Martin Sheen, David Warner, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., and Nigel Hawthorne. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”

— AudioFile